single shot - at the circus

Harpo in his element

pearls and lace

A headless bride in the thick of the night should appear more disturbing than this.
But its such a lovely vision, a beautiful, ghostly vision,
looking for all the world like a winged victory,
rather than a woman with clouded vision.

Perlicky na dne (1966)
aka Pearls of the Deep
Automat Svet segment, directed by Vera Chytilova

single shot - dying swan

Umirayushchii Lebed
aka The Dying Swan (1917)
directed by Eugeni Bauer

...and now the work begins

Christ in Concrete (1949)
directed by Edward Dmytryk
...with this most Vorkapichian montage sequence

awards

This past week I was presented with the Dardos Award, graciously bestowed by DCairns of one of my favorite blogs Shadowplay.

One of the duties and responsibilities that this honor mandates is to award 5 other worthy participants in this blog world. There are loads - these are just a few of my current obsessions.

House of Mirth and Movies - for consistently insightful observations
The Easy Ace - for the mind-blowing amount of research that goes into each post
Monster Crazy - for continued high quality curating of images blog-wide
Scouting NY- for helping to continue movie fantasy in real life
Go Fug Yourself - for top-notch writing. I have no idea who the featured non-film celebrities are, but the caption writing is superb. These two should be dialog writers in Hollywood as they are our only chance of a screwball comedy resurgence.

chiaroscuro

Sumerki zhenskoi dushi
aka Twilight of a Woman's Soul (1913)
directed by Evgeni Bauer
cinematography by Nikolai Kozlovski

This film could serve as the visual definition of chiaroscuro in a pictorial dictionary of film.
Hell, Bauer should have his own book if not a landmark named for him.

two eyes in multiples

Hell On Frisco Bay's Brian has posted his annual top ten list of Bay Area rep theater screenings,
including contributions from other cinephiles all over town - even me.

The listings by my neighbors never fail to inspire me to improve my
movie-going attendance in the future. Go see and marvel at the amazing
variety of film selections this town had to offer this past year.

beautiful light flares 6

The Narrow Margin (1951)

The Lodger (1944)

One Hour With You (1932)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

14 Hours (1951)

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

night train

Pociag aka Night Train (1959)
directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz
cinematography by Jan Laskowski




Beautifully shot.
For most of the film the stunning cinematography is star,
then a twist in the plot suddenly brings all of the
other elements together.
Its though it starts out Antonioni and ends up Hitchcock.

film blanc - lady on a train

As much as I love deep shadows that are integral to films noirs,
I'm also deeply fascinated with light flares and hot points
where the light washes out a large portion of the images in the frame.

Sometimes this bright glare is so strong that I can't even focus on a frame still.
It takes my eyes a few seconds to find an image within the brightness.

Its especially striking when this phenomenon enhances the image-
in this case the artificiality of her pose and the surreality of a fashion
photography session in the corridor of a jail house.

Lady on a Train (1945)
cinematography by Elwood Bredell

New Year's Day 2009

Death of a Cyclist

He Walked By Night

Island in the Sky

Holiday Affair

Woman in the Window

Black Friday

A Cottage on Dartmoor

Alibi

The Invisible Ray

"Time doth flit;
Oh, shit."
Dorothy Parker in Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle (1995)

What an incredible year, 2008.
While for me it was a busy and sometimes overwhelming one,
at least in relation to this blog it was a time of
incredible growth and so much fun.
Thank you, dear readers, for all your wonderful support.
I really appreciate your comments and e-mails, links and referrals.
I enjoyed discovering fantastic new sites and sometimes even getting to
meet my fellow bloggers in person.
This is a great community and I'm happy to be a part of that.
Here's to a great new year.